NOAA’s Ongoing Efforts to Develop, Test and Routinely Use Emerging Technologies in Tropical Cyclones
Presenter Abstract
Since 2009, NOAA has used an air-launched, small uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS) designed to sample the highly turbulent boundary layer environment of tropical cyclones (TCs). Since 2014, fifty four (54) sUAS have been successfully deployed including operations into seven (7) Major Hurricanes: Edouard (2014), Maria (2017), Michael (2018), Ian (2022), Helene (2024) Milton (2024) and Melissa (2025). Since that time, promising results from these early missions have been well-documented and appeared in multiple peer-review articles. Since 2018, NOAA has invested resources in three new sUAS platforms that have specifically been designed to operate within the low level, high wind region of hurricanes. The platforms currently in testing include Black Swift Technologies’ S0, Area-I’s Altius 600 and Dragoon’s Coriolis. In 2025, all of these uncrewed aircraft systems are expected to collect valuable TC oceanic and atmospheric boundary layer observations beyond visual line of sight.
In addition, NOAA has invested resources to develop a next generation dropsonde system. This promising platform, known as the Skyfora Streamsonde, is extremely lightweight (15g), has a pseudo swarm capability (50 can be deployed at once) and can measure sea surface temperature. To date, Streamsondes have successfully been deployed in Hurricanes Nigel (2023), Beryl (2024- Category 5), Raphael (2024) and Gabrielle (2025). Each of these new technologies has the potential to significantly improve NOAA’s existing observing capabilities within the harshest conditions of the storm.
NOAA has also invested significant developmental resources into long-endurance, land launched uncrewed systems (Dragoon Coriolis) as well as high altitude microsonde balloon (Stratosolutions) and solar powered lightweight UxS systems (Voltitude).
Going forward, the expectation is for all of these exciting platforms to continue along the research to operations spectrum allowing routine operations in direct support of NOAA’s hurricane surveillance and monitoring requirements to become possible. It is believed that these transformative observing technologies will successfully leverage NOAA’s existing TC sampling capabilities and advance the Agency’s ability to better monitor and more accurately predict the intensity of these dangerous, often life-threatening storms. An overview of and recent results from these NOAA-funded systems will be presented.
Presentations
Presented in Session 7: New Observations II
NOAA’s Ongoing Efforts to Develop, Test and Routinely Use Emerging Technologies in Tropical Cyclones
Since 2009, NOAA has used an air-launched, small uncrewed aircraft system (sUAS) designed to sample the highly turbulent boundary layer environment of tropical cyclones (TCs). Since 2014, fifty four (54) sUAS have been successfully deployed including operations into seven (7) Major Hurricanes: Edouard (2014), Maria (2017), Michael (2018), Ian (2022), Helene (2024) Milton (2024) and Melissa (2025). Since that time, promising results from these early missions have been well-documented and appeared in multiple peer-review articles. Since 2018, NOAA has invested resources in three new sUAS platforms that have specifically been designed to operate within the low level, high wind region of hurricanes. The platforms currently in testing include Black Swift Technologies’ S0, Area-I’s Altius 600 and Dragoon’s Coriolis. In 2025, all of these uncrewed aircraft systems are expected to collect valuable TC oceanic and atmospheric boundary layer observations beyond visual line of sight.
In addition, NOAA has invested resources to develop a next generation dropsonde system. This promising platform, known as the Skyfora Streamsonde, is extremely lightweight (15g), has a pseudo swarm capability (50 can be deployed at once) and can measure sea surface temperature. To date, Streamsondes have successfully been deployed in Hurricanes Nigel (2023), Beryl (2024- Category 5), Raphael (2024) and Gabrielle (2025). Each of these new technologies has the potential to significantly improve NOAA’s existing observing capabilities within the harshest conditions of the storm.
NOAA has also invested significant developmental resources into long-endurance, land launched uncrewed systems (Dragoon Coriolis) as well as high altitude microsonde balloon (Stratosolutions) and solar powered lightweight UxS systems (Voltitude).
Going forward, the expectation is for all of these exciting platforms to continue along the research to operations spectrum allowing routine operations in direct support of NOAA’s hurricane surveillance and monitoring requirements to become possible. It is believed that these transformative observing technologies will successfully leverage NOAA’s existing TC sampling capabilities and advance the Agency’s ability to better monitor and more accurately predict the intensity of these dangerous, often life-threatening storms. An overview of and recent results from these NOAA-funded systems will be presented.